Conveying apparatus



April 30, 1935- G. R. RoEMER CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed oct. 25, 193s' NTQR n, ///H/ ,//f/

l Q1 Y (Zh-ng M ATT NEYS Patented Apr. 30, 1935 UNITED STATES PA'I'EN'I4 OFI-iceV 1,999,596 CONVEYING APPARATUS George n. noemer, nmnklyn, N. Y.

Application October 25, 1933, Serial No. 695,074

5 Claims.

The invention aims primarily to provide an apparatus adapted to convey steel sheets or similar materials through chambers or recesses in which they are to be subjected to desired treatments; for example, such an apparatus may be used in normalizing or similar treatments of sheets and the like, or in pickling and similar operations, and enables the materials to be treated, to be successively mechanically fed to a continuous conveyor which passes through the treating chamber or bath, and at the end of the treatment the sheets are automatically transferred from the conveyor to a suitable traveling conveyor which carries them to the point at which the next succeeding operation is to be performed.

In one aspect of the present invention, it contemplates the combination with a continuous carrier as above mentioned, of a mechanism for feeding sheets or the like thereto which is located at an upwardly moving portion of the carrier, and a delivery mechanism located on the same side of the carrier and slightly beneath the feeding mechanism which is arranged to penetrate under the sheet or the like to be delivered, lift it off the carrier, and remove it from the path of movement of the latter. In another aspect of the invention, this last mentioned delivery mechanism may be arranged to operate .also as a feeding mechanism, whereby the materials to be treated are fed to the carrier and removed therefrom, at the same point. In utilizing this latter aspect of the invention the continuous conveyor vmay rotate in either direction, in fact the type of transfer mechanism herein disclosed is inherently capable of being used regardless of the direction in which the continuous conveyor is traveling.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the-description hereinafter contained which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof, which embodiment, however, is to be regarded as merely illustrative. In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view largely diagrammatic of a furnace equipped with a conveying apparatus adapted to operate in accordance with the invention. y v

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, looking down upon the apparatus of Fig. 1, certain of the parts being cut away at the left hand side of the figure as indicated by the broken lines, to expose the mechanism which lies underneath them.

'I'he illustrated form of the invention is ap- (Cl. 19K-107) suitably mounted in the heating chamber I and l which is provided with spaced sets of radiating members I which are adapted to support the sheets or other work to be conveyed through the chamber I. A fixed guide 8 underlies the lower part ofthe conveyor constituted bythe radiating l members I and it will be understood that the above members may be suitably water-cooled where necessary as is well known in the art and hence need not be referred to in greater detail herein. Certain other features of construction of such a conveyor are furthermore referred to in my copending Patent No. 1,935,783, issued Novemberr21, 1.933, entitled Sheet conveyor, and accordingly will not be described in detail herein.

In accordance with one aspect of my invention the work to be passed through the chamber I may be' fed by a suitable traveling conveyor having the rollers 9, to a point located adjacent an upwardly moving portion of the continuous conveyor constituted by radiating members Land preferably the roller conveyor 9 delivers the work to a point located somewhat above the central axis of the continuous conveyor whereby the sheets or the like may travel down inclined guides I0, into a position where they are supported by the radiating members 'I. A suitable kicker mechanism as is known to the art, may be employed to move the work from off rollers 9 down on to the guides III and into position on the radiating members 1; in the drawing, arms II reciprocating on supporting shafts I 2"L and actuated by rack IIa and gear IIb (Fig. l) are shown for this purpose, but it will be understood that the above mechanism is merely an example of any device suitable for the purpose.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. l, the work after having been fed into the continuous conveyor constituted by the radiating members 1, then travels upwardly through chamber I and down on the right hand side ofthe gure, 50

Atthis latter point the work is lifted oif the radiating members I by means oi' a transfer mechanism having a suitable number of arms i2 adapted to underlie and support the work, and lift the latter oi the radiatingmembers '1, and move it to a delivery point outside of chamber I, the arms I2 being advanced into and retracted from position between the radiating members 1, and raised and lowered, at the proper times.

In the illustrated form of the invention these arms I2 are supported on rollers I3 carried by pivoted levers I4, and the levers I4 are controlled as to position by an arm I5 connected thereto and moved by a cam I6 as shown at the left of Figs. 1 and 2. In their lower positions the arms I2 are advanced and retracted by racks I'I thereon driven from pinions I8, and in their upward positions a pinion I9 cooperating with a rack 20, serves the same purpose.

Thus when such a transfer' mechanism is used in connection with the remainder of the apparatus as illustrated, the arms I2 at the proper time and while maintained in lower' position by the levers I4, may be advanced into position between the radiating members l, such that they underlie the sheet or other work which is to be delivered from chamber I; the arms I2 will then be elevated to lift this sheet from 01T its supporting radiating members l, after which the arms I2 will be withdrawn from chamber I, carrying the sheet with them, and delivering it for example to a position just above a delivery rollerconveyor 2l, on to which the work is dropped when the arms I2 are next adjusted to lower position.

It should be noted that if desired, the transfer mechanism above described may be employed both to feed the work into the continuous conveyor in chamber I, and remove the work therefrom, and this regardless of the direction in which the conveyor is turning. For such mode of operation, assuming that the work arrives at the apparatus on a suitable conveyor such as the roller conveyor 2I, and at a time when the arms I2 are in lower position, the arms I2 may be then raised to lift the work o rollers 2l, the arms I2 will then be advanced to carry the work into the chamber I between the adjacent radiating members 'I, after which the arms I2 will be adjusted to lower position and withdrawn as above described. The next operation of the arms I2 may then be to remove the next succeeding sheet or the like, (which has been completely treated) from the radiating members 1, just as previously described, and a new sheet may be fed in and deposited in the space vacated by the one removed. It will be understood that the above operations merely require proper timing of the moving parts each with respect to the other and that interlocks may be provided for this purpose, the same not being described in detail herein as they are well known in the art. Usually the moving parts will be operated in step by step fashion.

If desired for certain treatments, a transfer mechanism I2', as indicated at the right of Fig. 1, and similar in all respects to the mechanism above described, may be employed at the opposite side of the continuous conveyor, to permit the work to be withdrawn after traveling only a fraction of a revolution or more than a revolution, through chamber I.

If the second transfer mechanism I 2 be employed and the radiating conveyor members rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, the apparatus becomes suitable for bath treatments in that the work travels through the lower half of the path of movement of the conveyor, although in some cases4 it is desirable to pass the work through the complete path of conveyor movement, using the upper pass as a drying stage. A transfer mechanism of the type described makes it possible to rotate the conveyor in either direction and convey the work through either the upper or the lower pass of the conveyor, or both, or where two of the transfer mechanisms are used as above described, work may be fed in by the arms I 2 and removed by the arms I2', while other work is being fed in by the arms,I2 and removed by the arms I2.

While a specic form of the invention has been described it will be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broader aspects.

I claim:

1. Conveying apparatus of the class' described, including a conveyor of the continuous type having spaced sets of radiating members adapted to support sheets and the like, said members being mounted to move in substantially vertical planes, means disposed laterally of the path of movement of an upwardly moving portion of said conveyor for intermittently feeding the work into supported position in said conveyor, and a transfer mechanism also located at said upwardly moving portion of said conveyor and adjacent said feeding means but disposed below the latter, said transfer mechanism having arms adapted to underlie and support the work, said arms being positioned to penetrate into said conveyor in staggered relation to said sets of radiating members, means for advancing to and retracting said arms from position penetrating into said conveyor out of line with the path of movement of said radiating members and for elevating said arms While penetrating into said conveyor, to lift the work o" the radiating members into supported position on said arms.

2. Conveying apparatus of the class described, including a conveyor of the continuous type having spaced radiating members adapted to support sheets and the like, said members being mounted to move in substantially' vertical planes, and a transfer mechanism disposed laterally of the path of movement of said conveyor, said transfer mechanism having arms adapted to underlie and support the work, said arms being positioned to penetrate into said conveyor in staggered relation to said sets of radiating members, means for advancing to and retracting said arms from position penetrating into said conveyor out of line with the path of movement of said radiating members and for adjusting said arms between a raised work supporting position and a lowered non-supporting position, when in advanced position.

3. Conveying apparatus of the class described, including a conveyor of the continuous type having spaced radiating members adapted Yto support sheets and the like, said members being mounted to move in substantially vertical planes, a transfer mechanism disposed laterally of the path of movement of said conveyor, said transfer mechanism having arms adapted to underlie and support the work, said arms being positioned to penetrate into said conveyor in staggered relation to said sets of radiating members, means for advancing to and retracting said arms from position penetrating into said conveyor out of line with the path of movement of said radiating members and for raising and lowering said arms both in advanced and retracted position, and a delivery conveyor having rolls also positioned in staggered relation to said arms, said rolls being rotatable on axes substantially parallel to said arms and being positioned to receive the work from said arms when lowered in retracted position.

4. Conveying apparatus of the class described, including a conveyor of the continuous type having spaced sets of radiating members adapted to support sheets and the like, said members being mounted to move in substantially vertical planes, a transfer mechanism disposed laterally of the path of movement of said conveyor, said transfer mechanism having arms adapted to underlie and support the work, said arms being positioned to penetrate into said conveyor in staggered relation to said sets of radiating members, means for advancing to and retracting said arms from position penetrating into said conveyor out of line with the path of movement of said radiating members and for raising and lowering said arms both in advanced and retracted position, and a delivery conveyor adapted to receive the work from said arms when lowered in retracted position, said arms removing the work from said last mentioned conveyor when raised in retracted position.

5. Conveying apparatus of the class described. including a conveyor of the continuous type having spaced sets of radiating members adapted to support sheets and the like,y said members being mounted to move in substantially vertical planes, a transfer mechanism disposed laterally of the path of movement of said conveyor. said transfer mechanism having arms adapted to underlie and support the work, said arms being positioned to peneti ate into said conveyor in staggered relation to said sets of radiating members, means for advancing to and retracting said arms from position penetrating into said convyor out of line with the path of movement of said radiating members and for raising and lowering said arms both in advanced and retracted position, a delivery conveyor adapted to receive the work from said arms when lowered in retracted position, said arms removing the work from said last mentioned conveyor when raised in retracted position, and a second transfer mechanism having arms as above set forth, said second mentioned transfer mechanism being located on the side of the first mentioned conveyor which is opposite to the first mentioned transfer mechanism.

GEORGE R. ROEMER. 

